Attempts have been made to configure an electronic hi-hat cymbal to simulate an acoustic hi-hat cymbal. Musical tones are generated by an electronic hi-hat cymbal, in response to a striking of an upper pad. The electronic hi-hat generates and stops musical tones (hi-hat sounds), based on the position of the hi-hat as controlled by the operation of the foot pedal. For example, the control to stop hi-hat sounds having an open group timbre is performed by stopping the generation of the sounds at a tone generation control position. The hi-hat sounds with the open group timbre include open sound, half open sound and slightly-open sound, corresponding to a hi-hat cymbal that is open, half open and slightly open, respectively. The tone generation control position is set in advance, at a position where the hi-hat is partially closed by a specific amount. In the case of an acoustic hi-hat cymbal in a partially closed state, striking sounds are gradually extinguished by interference between the separated upper and lower cymbals. The aforementioned tone generation stop control of the electronic hi-hat cymbal simulates the behavior of such an acoustic hi-hat cymbal.
In the electronic percussion musical instrument described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application 2006-133697, when the hi-hat moves to the closed position, the percussive sound being generated is silenced, and a pedal close sound is generated according to the striking intensity of the immediately preceding strike. According to the electronic percussion musical instrument described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application 2009-80444, when the hi-hat is struck at an open group position and generates a sound, silencing of the hi-hat sound is controlled based on the striking intensity at that moment and changes in the position of the hi-hat taking place thereafter. An open group position may be the open position, the half open position and the slightly-open position.
However, when the stop control position is set at the slightly-open position, slightly-open sound that is generated by a strike while the hi-hat is at the slightly-open position, might unnaturally be stopped by slight movements of the foot pedal. For this reason, the slightly-open sound is adjusted to be stopped, only when the foot pedal is stepped on relatively strongly.
One common hi-hat performance techniques is to generate a slightly-open sound by striking the pad at the slightly-open position, releasing the depression of the foot pedal to slightly open the hi-hat, and thereafter stepping on the foot pedal again to move the hi-hat to the closed position. However, with a conventional electronic hi-hat as described above, when the aforementioned performance technique is carried out, generation of the slightly-open sound that is supposed to stop, instead, may continue due to insufficient depression of the foot pedal, even though the hi-hat appears to be closed. Accordingly, the resulting performance may be different from that which the performer intends.